José Antonio Domínguez Banderas was born in 1960 in Malaga, Spain, and had soccer aspirations until he broke a foot at the age of 14 and turned his attention to theater. After taking some drama classes and touring Spain with a theater troupe, Antonio Banderas was hired by the National Theatre of Spain, where he attracted the attention of famed Spanish film director Pedro Almodóvar. He made his film debut in 1982 in Almodóvar’s Labyrinth of Passion and went on to appear in several more Spanish-language films during the 1980s, the most notable of which was Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (1988), which brought Antonio Banderas to the attention of American audiences.
His first English-speaking role, and his English at the time was not very good, was in The Mambo Kings (1992), which concerned two Cuban brothers seeking their fortune in New York City. A year later Antonio Banderas was the revolutionary peasant in love with the wealthy Blanca (WINONA RYDER) in the film adaptation of Isabel Allende’s novel The House of the Spirits. Antonio Banderas appeared in MADONNA’s Truth or Dare (1993), which may have influenced his casting in her later Evita (1995). His films in 1995 featured him as a sexy stud and/or a mobster, but in 1996 two films rejuvenated his career and his love life.
Playing the Che-like narrator in Evita, Antonio Banderas won a Golden Globe nomination for best actor in a comedy/musical; and in Too Much he was cast with Melanie Griffith, whom he later married. Another Golden Globe nomination came for his starring role in The Mask of Zorro (1998); he won the European Film Award for that role. In 1999 Antonio Banderas tried his hand behind the camera with Crazy in Alabama, which starred his wife, Melanie Griffith. His direction won him the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival.
Antonio Banderas continued to be active in films, appearing with Woody Harrelson in Play It to the Bone (2000), a boxing film, and in Original Sin (2000), in which he played a Cuban tycoon. In Spy Kids (2001) and its sequel, Spy Kids 2: Island of Lost Dreams (2000), he had the opportunity to display his comedic talent for the first time. In the films he plays a kidnapped federal agent who must be rescued by his determined and precocious kids. Playing truer to type, Antonio Banderas appeared in Brian De Palma’s Femme Fatale (2002) and had a bit part in Frida, a sleeper hit in 2002.
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